Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Tis The Season To Be...Grumpy?

Originally Published: December 17, 2005

In watching the news recently, it seems that there is this so called unofficial war on Christmas going on. People seem to have a problem with the phrase Happy Holidays. Since this is a season meant to be about sharing and celebrating the birth of an important religious figure, it would only be fair to say that it makes sense that we at least call the season by its proper name. The problem is that there are some other religious holidays that are also seen in December. In order to go ahead and rectify this situation, we have the phrase Happy Holidays. It covers all the major religious events and cannot possibly offend anyone.

The problem is that there are some people who do get offended by this phrase. In thier minds, it is a loss of religious believes and values in this country. As Bill O'Reilly points out, this is a secularist attempt to make this nation a lot like France. There are people who are part of religious organizations which attempt to try and put a little bit more religion into this particular holiday, and little less commercialism. The problem these people have is the ACLU, which comes in with their lawyers and scream separation of church and state. And so the battle continues again, until someone gives up the fight.

Fact of the Matter

The fact of the matter is this. People need to grow up! Saying Merry Christmas or Happy holidays does not draw a line in the sand between being the United States and France. They are just both sayings. As for those who are like O'Reilly and the ACLU, the best peice of advice for them is to get over themselves. The world is not their playpen. My friends, thir opinions are just as good as your or mine. The only difference between them and you is that they have a televsion camera infront of them and you don't.

However, there is a simple way fo seeing whether or not people hate Christmas. Why not take away its holiday status and make it an official work day? I guarantee you, my friends, there will be such an uproar from citizens, the business community, and other places that people will stop complaining about the simple little things like a name and just agree to celebrating the holiday.